Clutch means for accumulating units



Sept. 7, 1943. c. D. LAKE ET AL 2,328,653 CLUTCH MEANS FOR ACCUMULATINGUNITS Filed April 1, 1941 BY m I 1 ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 7, 1943Clairv D. Lake, Binghamton, and We'sleyHPfaffp; Union Center, N. Y.,assignors to International Business Machines Corporation, N. Y.,acorporation of New York .New York, v

Application April 1; 1941, S.erial-l* lo;=386,296: 3 Claims, H (01. 1 2,40) r This invention is concerned with improving the structure andoperation of an accumulating mechanism of the type disclosed'in PatentNo. 2,150,227. Briefly, the'accumulating mechanism of this patent is asfollows: The accumulators receive values derived from record cards. Eachaccumulator order is mounted on an individual plate and comprises aregister device and a drive device with clutching means between them.The clutching means is controlled by a clutch lever provided on one armwith an armature disposed between advance and stop magnets. To enter atrue number, the advance magnet is energized at a difierential time of acycle selected by a representation of the num her on a record card.Energization of the advance magnet moves the armature and lever in adirection to cause clutching. of the register device to the drivedevice. After being driven a differential amount equivalent to thenumber, a mechanical knock-01f in the drive gearing restores theclutching power to declutching position, causing the register device tostop. If the number to be entered is a complement, the ad- Vance magnetis energized at a predetermined time of the cycle to initiate rotationof the register. device. selected by the number designation on a recordcard, the stop magnet is energized, rocking the armature and lever in adirection opposite to the direction in which they are moved by theadvance magnet. As a result, the rotation of the register device isstopped after it has entered the complement of the designated number.The advance magnet is energized momentarily to move vthe clutch l verand armature to clutch engaging position, but the clutch lever andarmature are to remain in this position until the register device is tobe declutched either by iperation of the mechanical knock-ofi or by:nergization of the stop magnet. For this pur- 3056 a toggle device isprovided which straightens ut to retain the clutch lever impositively in:lutching position. By its nature, the toggle, in uder to firmly holdthe clutch lever in clutchng position, must have an appreciablestraightning throw. In turn, this demands a correponding appreciableplay of the armature beween the advance and stop magnets. The reaterthis play, the less sensitive and rapid the response of the armature andconnected lutch lever to energization of either magnet.

It may be stated, now, that an object of the resent invention resides inmeans to reduce ie'play between the armature and magnets and At adifferential time of the cycle' render, the armature and clutch-levermore ;sen sitively and rapidlyigresponsivez'to energization 3:; ofeither imagnetg; I i i 1 T I An object is,ffurther-,t0 reduce'therplayybe m tween-the.- armature. and magnetsj'byi providing novelmeans, for .retaining clutchlever in their actuated,clutch-enablingimpositions.

An object, further, iSiIO ;reduce;the' playnbeev tween the?armature:vandumagnetsystill furthei by providing compound; movementmultiplying leverage between the: armatureiiand 'clutchrlever Anotherobject is to provide-a novelv mechame cal knock-citdeviceconstructedilto absorb shock and to avoid 'thei'necessity for/finelyw exact 1:. machining of the knock-01f; clutch lever; and re'-:.lated parts. I

Othercbjects of thezinventioniwill be pointed iii outv in theiollowing;description. and claims-rand: illustrated in the; accompanying drawing,which. discloses, byxway oi exampleyzthe" princip1e=iof n the inventionandthe'best mode, whichshas been.-.== contemplated, of applying thatprinciple. i

In the drawing:

Fignnl is a sectionalhviewof the accumulator plate unit, showing thedeclutched. condition. of M the parts,

Fig. 2 a sectional view, showing the clutchediw' condition, and l I Fig.3 is an-explodedview, onua reduced scale i e of the clutch.

The accumulator..plate uni-t :comprisesuwa mounting plate J8 which hasfixed to it a sleevei-i rotatably 'carryingca drive=device'comprisingrigidly united ratchet 1.6 andgear i1. Gear 111 is continuouslydrivenxby a gear J8 =fixed on a shaft i9 journaiediin the'frames- Gearl8 makes-.1. one revolution a cycle andhas sixteen teeth 6 while gear 11has ten teeth;

Rotatably carried by a hub .of ratchet I 6 is a disk 20 having'ten teethZGaiadapted to beien a :v gaged by a toothZ-la onv the long arm of aclutch-'1 lever 2| tohold the disk against rotation in'acounterclockwisedirection; 1 Atthe side of disk 20 is a register Wheel24 rotatable on sleeve [.5 and r: provided with ten peripheral notches24a. Wheel 24 may take any of ten rotati've positions correi sponding tovalues 0 to 9. A spring-pressed-lever 25 engages with a notch 24a-of theregister wheel to hold the wheel impositively and to center it in thevalue position to which it has been rotatedn A transfer cam 26 is fixedto the sideof wheel-24 2 by a pairof studs 21 and 28. These studs extendthrough openings of disk 20 to positions'adjacent ratchet [6 where stud27 pivotally carries a clutch 1 the; i-armature .sande,

. declutching position, its tooth means.

2 dog 30 and stud 28 anchors one end of a spring 3|. The other end ofthe spring is connected to the free end of dog 30 to urge a tooth 30a ofthe clutch dog to engage ratchet it. In the positions shown in Fig. 1,the clutch lever 2| is in de-clutching position, its tooth 2|a isrestraining rotation of disk counterclockwise, and clutch dog is clearof ratchet It. The clutch dog is being held clear of ratchet l6 bycoaction of a pin 30!) on the dog with the upper portion of a cam edge20b of disk 20. When the clutch lever 2| is dropped to cause its tooth2la to release the disk 20 for counterclockwise movement, the spring 3|is effective to rock the clutch dog 30 into engagement with ratchet I6.During this movement of the clutch dog, its pin 30b rides down the camedge 20b of disk 20 and cams the disk counterclockwise until its tooth20a, previously engaged by tooth 2 la, is to the right of the lattertooth. The parts are then in clutching positions, shown in Fig. 2, andthe register wheel 24 is coupled to the drive device |6-|'| forrotation. Through engagement of the pin 3% of the clutch dog with camedge 20b, the disk 20 is forced to rotate counterclockwise together withthe register wheel.

When the clutch lever 2| is returned to upper, 2|a intercepts a tooth20a of disk 20 and stops the disk. The register wheel and clutch dogcontinue rotatin while cam edge 20b of disk 20 cams the pin 30b of theclutch dog upwardly until it is again in its outer position. As the pin30b is cammed outwardly, clutch dog 30 moves clear of the ratchet l6 anddeclutches the register wheel from the driving tered in its new valueposition by lever 25.

The clutch lever 2| is held in either clutching or declutching positionby a latch 35. The latch is pivoted on a. stud 36 carried by an arm of abracket 31. A spring 38 between the bracket and the latch urges thelatch counterclockwise. The bracket is secured to the plate H) by aclamping screw 39 passing through a vertical slot 40 of the bracket andthreaded into the plate. A pin 4| extending from the plate freelyprojects into slot 40. When the screw 39 is loosened, the bracket may beadjusted vertically and slightly angularly to proper position, therebyalso providing an adjustment for the tension of spring 38. With theclutch lever 2| in upper, declutching position, the wedge-shaped tip ofthe lever is seated firmly in a slot a of latch 35. When the clutchlever is moved down to clutching position, its wedgeshaped tip camsagainst the inclined wall of notch 35a and forces the latch clockwisuntil the lever tip is below and clear of the notch. The spring 38 thensnaps the latch back in a counterclockwise direction, placing aninclined edge 35b thereof above the top of lever 2| to retain the leverin lower, clutching position. The free ends of the lever and latch.project' into a guide slot 31a formed in bracket 31 and by whichsidewise movement of the lever and latch out of their proper planes isprevented. The upper, right hand end of slot 31a also serves as a stopfor the counterclockwise movement of latch 35 when clutch lever 2| isrocked downwardly and released from the notch 35a ofthe latch.

The clutch lever 2| has a short arm swiveled to the lower end of anarmature 45. The armature is disposed between an advance magnet AM and astop magnet SM mounted on plate I0. Energization of magnet AM rocksarmature 45 clockwise to lower the lever 2 I. Energization of magnet SMrocks armature 45 counterclockwise to The register wheel is then heldand cen- 1',

raise the lever 2|. The nature or the latching means for the lever issuch that only a slight downward movement of the lever is necessary torelease it from the notch 35a of latch 35. while a correspondinglyslight upward movement of the lever reengages its tip with the notch.Accordingly, the angle through which armature 45 moves to bring theclutch lever from upper to lower position or the reverse isproportionately small. Further, the relation of the moment arms ofarmature 45 and lever 2| is such that a movement of the armature effectsa multiplied movement of the lever. All these factors provide for aminimum of play between the armature and magnets AM and SM, renderingthe armature sensitively and rapidly responsive to energization ofeither magnet.

The mechanical knock-off for moving the clutch lever 2| from lower toupper, declutching position comprises a lever 50 pivoted to the side ofcyclically and continuously rotating gear IS. The lever is urgedclockwise by a spring 5| and limited in such movement by engagement of asurface 50a with the hub of gear l8. Lever 50 is provided with a pair ofspaced knock-off pins 52 and 53 adapted during clockwise rotation ofgear l8 to ride in succession under an edge 2) of clutch lever 2|.Assuming the clutch lever to be in lower position, when either pin 52 or53 engages edge 2") of the clutch lever, it cams the lever upwardly tore-seat its wedge-shaped tip in notch 35a of latch 35. To insurepositive return of the lever 2| into latching coaction with notch 35awithout requiring too precise location and machining of parts, the pins52 and 53 are at such radial distances as to tend to overthrow the lever2| in an upward direction. The overthrow of the lever 2| is prevented,however, by the engagement of the upper, extended flat wall of notch 35awith the upper flat edge of the lever. This engagement positivelvarrests the upward throw of lever 2| and, in so doing, causes the edge2|b of the lever to cam the knock-off pin downwardly until the pin ridesoff the edge. The downward movement of the knock-01f pin results incounterclockwise rocking of lever 50, permitted by the yielding ofspring 5|. The yieldable knock-oil structure cushions the shock ofengagement between the clutch lever and the upper wall of notch 35a oflatch 35 and insures positive restoration and relatching of the clutchlever without requiring too precise location and machining of the parts.The knock-oil pin 52 is efiective at a fixed point of the cycle to causethe register wheel to be arrested after entry of a true or naturalvalue. The knock-off pin 53 serves at the end of a. cyclical carryperiod to cause the register wheel to be arrested after a carry entry.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, itwill be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changesin the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operationmay be made by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limitedonly as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Clutch control mechanism for an accumulator unit or the like having aregister wheel and a drive Wheel, a clutch therebetween, a clutchcontrol lever movable in opposite dir ctio t clutch enabling and clutchdisabling positions, a

latch lever, coacting nose and notch portions on the levers interfittingto latch the clutch lever in one of its positions, a spring acting onthe latch lever to maintain the nose portion seated in the notchportion, said nose and notch portions having surfaces sloping relativelyto each other and coacting to cam the latch lever aside, againstresistance of said spring, upon movement of the clutch lever to itsalternative position until the nose portion is unseated from the notchportion, said latch lever and clutch lever having coacting edges slopingrelatively to each other and engaging to maintain the clutch controllever in said alternative position and coacting to cam the latch leveraside upon return of the clutch control lever to its other positionuntil the nose portion is re-seated in the notch portion, an advancemagnet, a stop magnet, and a common armature between them and connectedto the clutch control lever to move the latter to its clutch enablingposition, against the influence of said spring, upon energization of theadvance magnet and to move the clutch lever to clutch disablingposition, also against resistance of said spring, upon energization ofsaid stop magnet, said clutch control lever and latch lever having theircoacting nose and notch portions so arranged and constructed that arelatively slight movement of the clutch control lever from one of itspositions to its alternative position unseats the nose portion from thenotch portion whereby the related movement of the armature and its playbetween the magnets may be correspondingly slight.

2. The clutch means as defined in claim 1, the

armature and clutch control lever being connected to each other throughmovement-multiplying leverage to further reduce the play of the armaturebetween the magnets.

3. Clutch means for an apparatus having a register wheel and a drivingtrain including a drive wheel, a clutch to engage the drive wheel withthe register wheel, a clutch control lever movable in oppositedirections to clutch engaging and disengaging positions, means forreleasably holding the control lever in either position, an advancemagnet, an armature therefor connected to the control lever to move itto clutch engaging position upon energization of the magnet, a rotatingmember in the driving train, a knock-oft lever mounted thereon forrotation therewith and for rocking relatively thereto and having meansfor engaging the clutch control lever during rotation of said member toreturn the control lever to clutch disengaging position, meanscomprising a spring or the like for biasing the knock-oil lever in adirection in which the means thereon for engaging the control lever isat its outward limit with respect to the axis of the member and tends tooverthrow the control lever in returning it to clutch disengagingposition, and an abutment for stopping overthrow of the control leverand acting therethrough to cause the knock-off lever to rock, againstthe influence of said biasing means, relatively to the rotating memberuntil the means on the knock-off lever passes the clutch control lever.

CLAIR D. LAKE. WESLEY PFAFF.

